Pressurized dispensing devices are commonly used for dispensing beverages such as water, beer, soft drinks, and hot chocolate. Fast food restaurants, cafeterias, and concessions often provide a tank for retaining cold milk and dispensing the cold milk by gravity flow through a spigot opening in the bottom of the tank, however, there presently is no commercial apparatus suitable for dispensing hot chocolate milk.
One attempt at providing a dispensing device for hot chocolate is described in Rava, U.S. Pat. No. 6,889,600 B2, wherein a heating coil containing the chocolate flavored water is immersed in a heated liquid. The heating coil requires a very large volume of surrounding heated liquid to bring the chocolate flavored water up to proper temperature (e.g., about 165° F.) and, therefore, is not suitable for a portable hot liquid dispensing device. Further, during the experimental phases of the present invention, it has been found that coil heaters tend to scorch the milk, corrode, and are difficult to clean resulting in hot milk having a scorched taste, and having an inconsistent, non-uniform temperature. The Rava '600 patented device was not commercially useful and the patent has already expired by non-payment of maintenance fees.
The audiences attending various sporting events and the like during the warmer months of the year, seek refreshments in the form of cold liquid, such as soft drinks and beer, but audiences attending outdoor events during the colder months, as occurs during the football season or other events where it is cold outside desire that the liquid refreshments be warm or hot. It is common to provide hot chocolate or coffee at such events, but the hot chocolate is in the form of chocolate and sugar dissolved in water and has very little body or flavor, and does not blend well or stay blended. Hot chocolate milk would be a far more desirable product, but presently there is no device available for heating and dispensing hot chocolate milk through a dispensing system of the type that is needed to service customers at such events.